Motorists warned about carjackers

A carjacking and attempted carjacking over the weekend marked the fourth time since mid-July that St. Johns County motorists were attacked by car thieves.

Detectives with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said the incidents Friday and Saturday nights could be related, with up to four men working together to carry out the crimes, according to Det. Phil Graham. He said the victims were driving alone from Jacksonville restaurants before they were attacked. The carjackers trailed the victims to their homes and attacked them as they stepped from their cars.

Also, the type of car was similar in both attacks, Graham said. In the Friday night attempted carjacking, a woman pressed the alarm on her keys to escape a man with a gun who wanted to steal her newer model gold Toyota Camry, according to the report on the attack.

About 24 hours later, a man was hit on the head at his rented home in Fruit Cove as he got out of his car. The thieves made off with his gold 2003 G34 Infiniti, Graham said.

Sgt. Brian Lee said the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is investigating five or six carjackings from the past four days where suspects used similar methods of attacking victims. Detectives in Jacksonville did not confirm that the attacks in St. Johns were related, saying the investigation is continuing.

The man attacked in Fruit Cove on Saturday was hit on the head with a blunt object, and had to be transported by air ambulance to Shands Jacksonville hospital, Graham said. Graham spoke to the man in the hospital and said he did not remember the attack.

"He doesn't remember anything of that day," Graham said. "He can't tell you where he ate dinner that night, who he was with. All he can remember is that he thought he was at a carnival and he was never at a carnival."

A friend later confirmed that the man had driven home from Don Pablo's Mexican Kitchen in Southside Jacksonville on Friday night, Graham said.

The Infiniti was found backed up in the woods behind a house under construction in south Jacksonville on Sunday morning, Graham said. The car had a dent in its left quarter panel and was in fair condition, he said.

The woman attacked in Ponte Vedra Beach on Saturday said she came home from Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar off Baymeadows Road and was approached by two men, one wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and black knit scull cap, according to the report. The man holding the handgun told her to get in the backseat of the car, the report said. She did not obey him and the man put the gun to her face, the report said. The woman remembered she was holding her keys and hit the alarm, sending the two men running, the report said.

A car deputies said could be a getaway car was spotted a short time after the woman was attacked. The only description was that the car had one headlight out, according to the report.

Lee said having four carjackings in the county in less than four months is unusual. He urges people to pay attention to their surroundings when getting into and out of their vehicles, especially in parking lots. "People are usually not there to hang out," he said. "If there's anything you feel uncomfortable about, go back into the store, notify somebody or sit back and wait a second."

The carjackings before this weekend ended with two men taken to jail. One man was found trying to hot-wire a car in mid-July after he attacked a woman motorist. At the man's approach, the woman stepped on the accelerator and sped away.

A 76-year-old man got into his car parked outside Wal-Mart in early October. In the passenger seat was a man holding a BB gun, demanding the older man drive him away from the parking lot, according to Graham. The carjacker told the man to get out of the car on a secluded road, then took it to his girlfriend's house. He was captured about an hour later driving on King Street.